Save space by mounting your Rift sensors with your Vive Lighthouses!
HTC included some great mounting brackets for their Vive Lighthouses; you can easily attach them to pretty much any surface you don't mind putting holes in, and they allow for swiveling and rotating. If you happen to own both VR headsets — Rift and Vive — and if you already have your Vive Lighthouses mounted in a perfect spot, you can easily attach the Rift's sensors.
This is perfect for room-scale Rift setups, but it also works for a single Rift sensor if you prefer to sit while you play.
- What you need for a room-scale Rift setup
- What you will need to mount your Rift sensor onto your Vive Lighthouse
- How to mount your Rift sensor onto your Vive Lighthouse
- Dealing with sensors that are too far apart
What you need for a room-scale Rift setup
First and foremost, you need three Rift sensors to enjoy room-scale Rifting, including Oculus Touch controllers. For more information, check out our guide to setting up a room-scale Rift experience.
As it stands now, extra Rift sensors are only available from Oculus, and each cost about $80.
What you will need to mount your Rift sensor onto your Vive Lighthouse
The first piece of hardware you'll need to attach the two sensors is a 1/4-inch male-to-male threaded screw adapter.
If you have any tripods for photography lying around, you might already have one of these fasteners, otherwise Amazon has a five-pack you can grab for about $7.
Extending your USB cables
While Vive's Lighthouses communicate wirelessly with your PC, the Rift's sensors must be plugged into your PC via USB. In this case of mounting your sensors together, you might need a few USB extenders.
UGREEN has a six-foot USB 3.0 extender cable that you can grab for about $6.50. Depending on your setup and where your PC sits, you might need to grab two cables.
How to mount your Rift sensor onto your Vive Lighthouse
Before you begin, unfasten your Vive Lighthouse from its mounting bracket — this will make it much easier to complete the following steps.
Unclip the USB cable from the Rift sensor stand.
Unscrew the sensor from the Rift sensor stand. You will notice where the threads start near the top of the stand.
Screw one end of the threaded adapter into the Rift sensor.
Screw the other end of the threaded adapter into the Vive Lighthouse. Ensure that the front of the Rift sensor is facing the same way as the front of the Lighthouse.
- Re-attach the Vive Lighthouse to its mounting bracket.
Position the sensor combo so that it covers your play area.
You can repeat the process depending on how many sensors you want to set up. Remember that you will still have one Rift sensor attached to its stand, as there are only two Vive Lighthouses.
Dealing with sensors that are too far apart
While the Vive's Lighthouses can reliably track room-scale movements at a range of about 50 feet (15 meters), the Rift sensors max out at about 15 feet (4.5 meters). If your Rift sensors are too far apart, you'll likely see an error pop up on your PC letting you know.
You can choose to ignore the warning and keep playing, but you might notice tracking gets a little inaccurate. It really depends on your individual setup — if you notice that tracking is a little off, consider moving your sensors. As you'll still have a third Rift sensor sitting on its own and not attached to anything but its stand, try reconfiguring it first before re-mounting your sensor combos on the walls.
For more info on the limits of your sensors, check out our guide on how to check your Rift sensor's view and boundaries.
Your combo
Do you have both a Rift and a Vive? If you do, did you mount the sensors together? Let us know in the comments section!
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How to mount your Rift sensor with your Vive Lighthouse